20 French Expressions That Make Absolutely No Sense in English (But We Use Them Every Day)

If you've been learning French for a while, you've probably noticed something strange: French people say some pretty weird things.

Imagine telling someone that you've "fallen into the apples" or that you have "a cockroach". Sounds ridiculous, right?

The funny thing is that native French speakers use these expressions all the time without even thinking about how bizarre they sound when translated literally.

Here are 20 French expressions that make absolutely no sense in English!

Expression française	Traduction littérale
Tomber dans les pommes	To fall into the apples
Poser un lapin	To put down a rabbit
Avoir le cafard	To have the cockroach
Donner sa langue au chat	To give your tongue to the cat
Met re son grain de sel	To put in your grain of salt
Être haut comme trois pommes	To be as tall as three apples
Faire la grasse matinée	To make the fat morning
Raconter des salades	To tell salads
Avoir le cœur sur la main	To have your heart on your hand
Appeler un chat un chat	To call a cat a cat
Avoir d'autres chats à fouetter	To have other cats to whip
Passer du coq à l'âne	To go from the rooster to the donkey
Prendre la mouche	To catch the fly
Chercher midi à quatorze heures	To look for noon at 2 p.m.
Faire un tabac	To make a tobacco
Pédaler dans la semoule	To pedal in semolina
Se mettre sur son trente-et-un	To put oneself on one's thirty-one
Couper la poire en deux	To cut the pear in half
Faire la pluie et le beau temps	To make rain and good weather
Avoir un poil dans la main	To have a hair in your hand

French may be known as the language of love, but it's also the language of wonderfully strange expressions.

The next time you hear a French person talking about cats, apples, cockroaches, pears, or rabbits, don't panic. They're probably not talking about animals or fruit at all!

Which expression is your favourite? Let me know in the comments!

Caroline Le Crane -Native French tutor in Paris, helping expats speak real, confident French.

 Because Paris is better when you understand what people are actually saying.